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Repairing stiff or loose LCD screen hinges

rimmeruk

Experienced Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2019
Messages
100
Location
UK England
Hello guys and girls,

Just thought I'd start a thread about repairing laptop screen hinges that become loose or very stiff after years of use.
I'm not talking about the actual hinge or plastic mounts, but the metal hinge rotation spring mechanism.
The hinges usually have grease or have some sort of compound in them, but I have noticed after many laptop stripdowns,
that the grease or compound has long dried up. This results in either a very loose hinge or a very stiff hinge. The most common
failure being a stiff hinge that is so tight to rotate and results in the plastic surround breaking and the screws breaking away
from the case.

Finding the correct torque for each specific hinge is a bit of hit and miss, but I have established after many repairs, that
a correctly torqued hinge should rotate by hand with only a moderate amount of force. If the hinge rotates easily without
much force then it's too loose. If the hinge can only be rotated with a pair of pliars, then it is too tight. Also taking
into consideration the size and weight of the screen when setting the torque.

Some suggestions on repair forums say to use WD40 to lubricate the hinge but this method is only good for loosening a tight hinge.
The WD40 will eventually dry up the hinge and this is not ideal when the spring should be constantly lubricated. A silicone based
grease is good enough to keep the hinges healthy for a long period.

There are many different hinge designs but the actual mechanism is the same, although I'm not sure what the proper name is
for these types of hinges, also known as a friction hinge. Usually some of these hinges have a small bolt at the end of the
hinge pin which can be turned to tighten or loosen the hinge. The bolt type of hinge is very easy to repair and only requires loosening
and then a small dab of silicone grease can be applied to the parts. The hinge can e re-tightend with a socket spanner whilst holding
the mouting side with a pair of pliars.

BOLT HINGE TYPE
bolt-hinge.jpg

The most difficult hinges to repair do not have any kind of way to loosen or re-torque the hinge spring mechanism. They seem to be
a sealed part and once the grease or compound has dried out, the hinge is unrepairable. Or is it ? Has anyone had any success in
restoring these hinges back to working condition ? Appying fresh grease, has a marginal effect but the grease cannot penetrate
the whole mechanism if it has become too tight.

SEALED HINGE TYPE
sealed-hinge.jpg

I just thought it would be useful to share some experiences and tips on this common problem with old laptops and portables.
 
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The most common failure being a stiff hinge that is so tight to rotate and results in the plastic surround breaking and the screws breaking away from the case.
I would also love to hear how those broken screw sockets can be repaired. I am looking at one such case right now. The first thought is to use a bunch of epoxy to glue the sockets back, but I seriously doubt that will hold. The more realistic approach would be to drill a through hole and use a nut or a threaded plate outside - that would be (much) more reliable, but certainly change the external appearance to worth.
 
Epoxy does work but only if the metal hinges are not too stiff or siezed. IOtherwise The plastic will just crack and pull the screw inserts out again.
I've used fiberglass which is very strong when cured, stronger than the original plastic which becomes brittle after many years. You can also buy
the small brass screw inserts on ebay, they come in many sizes and the correct procedure to insert them is to use a hot soldering iron to push
them into the surrounding plastic undersized hole.
 
It also helps to add some reinforcing material to the epoxy and put a screw in the brass insert so it doesn't fill up with epoxy during the repair job. I've used fiberglass "strings" sometimes used by newspapers to hold closed during delivery or fiberglass window screen cutoffs. Clean the lid or case with DNA or IPA and light sanding helps too. Try to use as large an area as possible for the material so the force is spread over a large area. Cracks in lids and cases can be bonded with MEK but be careful, use very little, since it melts many plastics. Plus read the safety label on the can since MEK is nasty stuff.
 
It also helps to add some reinforcing material to the epoxy and put a screw in the brass insert so it doesn't fill up with epoxy during the repair job.

Great tips DeltaDon. I found out the hard way to keep the holes clear when using epoxy :( I now use a small piece of rolled up tissue paper to pack the hole up with. The screw in place is something I didn't think of. What reinforcing material do you use in the epoxy ?
 
Great tips DeltaDon. I found out the hard way to keep the holes clear when using epoxy :( I now use a small piece of rolled up tissue paper to pack the hole up with. The screw in place is something I didn't think of. What reinforcing material do you use in the epoxy ?

From my earlier #4 post: "I've used fiberglass "strings" sometimes used by newspapers to hold closed during delivery or fiberglass window screen cutoffs." But you can also use, small plastic scraps or fiberglass mat used for car repairs or plastic strapping used on heavy packages if you have some. Worse case flood the area with epoxy completely. Hopefully nobody will ever open the case again.
 
Yes, seal the whole thing together with epoxy and stick a security seal sticker over it, should stop anyone looking to remove parts and returning your ebay items :)
I've heard plastic welding with a soldering iron works very well, although I have not used this method as it looks quite messy and the fumes wouldn't be nice.
 
Sad thing is that I've got a basement full of the last spare case parts, ribbon and other cables, spare mobo's, floppy and cd drives for the GVC Alphatop and later on ECS "Green" line of laptops. Green 753 through Green 736 mostly. Sold under many many smaller brand names. (Northgate, Winbook, Brick, HoneyBee, Balance and many more) These were all Pentium to P4 models and so not old enough for most collectors and so no interest. Spares for other newer models went into the dumpsters when the service center closed. I missed out on that stuff due to being in the hospital.
 
I hope this doesn’t count as resurrecting an old thread. But it happened to be exactly the subject I was searching for.

So the hinges on the contura are closed, you can adjust them with a nut. You have what looks like two coils wrapped around a barrel, with the hinge arm for the display is connected to. I’m assuming the coils are what give the stiffness and stop the screen from flopping down on the keyboard.

The problem I have and if online searching / eBay listings are anything to go by, a lot of other conturas suffer with stiff hinges. Which ultimately lead to the plastics being torn to pieces and the laptop becoming unusable.

Do anyone have any advice? I just spent the night using gorilla apoxy and this morning even though it was solid, the brass threads tore right through the glue and that was just with the screen housing not the lcd panel.

I’m reaching a point where this machine is costing more to fix than is worth the effort. And any replacement Contura I buy will still have buggered hinges.

Really hoping someone can offer some insight
 
There's mesh tape used to cover dry wall joints and that or leftover fiberglass window screening can be used to reinforce epoxy repairs. Plenty of other stuff too. In any case, you must clean the plastic with DNA or IPA to remove oils plus rough up the surface t so the epoxy bonds with the plastic. Adding the mesh helps. The key is flood the area with well mixed epoxy (make extra and toss out leftover) and don't go for looks, go for strength since the repair will be inside the lid or computer and not seen. Put screws in any brass inserts to prevent epoxy from filling the threads and maybe dip the screw in grease so the epoxy doesn't freeze the screw in place. Wait several days for the epoxy to fully cure and do not use 5 minute epoxy - go for the best long cure stuff.

For broken LCD mounting points or using a non-original LCD you can use GOOP or other RTV rubber product to "goop" the LCD into place. Again, hidden and so looks isn't what you are going for.

Hinges can be lubed, if the sealed type, by dropping them into a dish of 3 in 1 oil and hope they loosen up. The nut adjust type can be adjusted and perhaps lightly lubed with Lock Ease graphite/oil. But too loose is just as bad as too tight if the lid won't stay open.

If there's cracks in the outer surface you can bond the crack with melting type plastic "glues" or MEK. Bondo, sand paper and spray cans of paint from a GOOD hobby shop can match many original colors after repairs. I used to repaint drab flat black laptop cases with bright colors long before Alienware started doing it with their Clevo made laptops. Clevo and Kapok had large beasts that were often butt ugly black and they looked so much better in silver or other colors. My sorely missed and now long departed Tennessee friend Tommy G. taught me that trick.
 
I will give the 3 in 1 a go, I tried using a stay wet bicycle chain lubricant and literally submerged a hinge in the stuff and it did nothing, the darn thing just remained as stiff as before. I tried using some apoxy gurilla glue, left it over night. The next morning I tried the brass screw holes and after the 24hr cure time, they still pulled right out. Felt like a total waste of money, the stuff is meant to hold 240kg and it couldn't even hold the empty rear shell of the screen back.

I'm now reaching the point of thinking I will use some m2 screws along with some bolts through the screen housing. It's the only way I can think of getting a decent hold on the brackets and screen housing, glue just doesn't seem to be up to the job.
 
Thinnest oil i know is NyOil or maybe PB Blaster. Try warming up the oil if you can before you soak it. Do you have a mug warmer at all? If so could use turbine wax based oil (Like SUPCO Zoom). With any the oils hotter it gets, thinner it is... Car world has similar problems with some vehicle hvac blend door linkage.



As for plastic, ive been seeing alot of superglue w/ baking soda past year for repairs. Or maybe radiator repair sticks. Those are meant to hold metal to plastic , under pressure, and heat. Alot of what you fix with them are brass to plastic or alum to plastic. If it can hold yer cooling systems psi...

Like this

3m Panel-bond with some steel wool might work as well.


I've had to replair plastic/fibreglass alot over the years.:) With steel wool i always used just scrubbing pads, and get em wet and try to get the soap out. Then you put it somewhere to dry for days. It should be easy to crumble to almost dust. Use that dust mixed into the panel-bond.

If you know the type of plastic i can help more. With any epoxy, thinner layers are better then just globbed on thick.
 
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